Hyderabad: In the wake of allegations and counter-allegations being made by BJP national president Amit Shah and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the Centre has made it clear no more funds will be released unless the state submits utilisation certificates for funds released in the past.
The TS finance department had written to the Centre requesting the release of Rs 450 crore under the Backward Areas Development Fund, as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act.
Over the past two years, the Centre has released Rs 900 crore under these funds.
Last year it released Rs 450 crore to TS without utilisation certificates for the previous year’s funds being submitted. But this time, it responded to the TS government’s request by asking it to submit the certificates.
The state government accordingly submitted the utilisation certificates, but the Centre said that the certificates lacked sufficient details.
The Centre has asked for details of all works taken up under the scheme to be submitted; this includes details such as length of roads laid.
Officials from the finance department are in the process of collecting this data from district collectors. They say that the process will be completed within a week.
Last year, even though the AP government submitted utilisation certificates, the release of funds was delayed. Meanwhile, TS received funds without submitting any certificates.
AP officials have pointed this out to the Central government officials.
They say that they are not against the release of funds to TS, but they have a problem with the fact that the release of funds to AP was delayed despite protocol being followed.
